 | |
 7-Southern Railway | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Chennai |
| Reporting mark | SR |
| Locale | Tamil Nadu,Kerala,Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka ,Puducherry, |
| Dates of operation | 14 April 1951; 74 years ago (14 April 1951)– |
| Predecessor | South Indian Railway Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Mysore State Railway |
| Successor | Southern Railway South Coast Railway South Central Railway South Western Railway |
| Technical | |
| Previous gauge | Metre gauge Narrow gauge |
| Length | 5,081 km (3,157 mi) route[1] |
| Other | |
| Website | Southern Railway |
TheSouthern Railway (abbreviatedSR) is one of theeighteen zones ofIndian Railways. It is headquartered atChennai and operates across thestates ofTamil Nadu,Kerala,Karnataka ,Andhra Pradesh and theunion territory ofPuducherry. The origin of the Southern Railway can be traced back to theMadras Railway formed in 1845. Southern Railway was created on 14 April 1951 by merging three state railways, namely, theMadras and Southern Mahratta Railway, theSouth Indian Railway Company, and theMysore State Railway and became the first railway zone created in newly formed India. Southern Railway maintains about 5,081 km (3,157 mi) of railway lines and operates 727railway stations. It has the distinction of operating the first railway line inIndia, which opened for traffic from Redhills to Chindadripettai inMadras on 12 September 1836.[2]
The history of the Southern Railway can be traced back to theMadras Railway. In 1832, the proposal to construct the first railway line in India atMadras was made by theBritish.[3] In 1835, therailway track was constructed betweenLittle Mount andChintadripet inMadras and became operational in 1837.[4] TheMadras Railway was established later in 1845 and the construction on the first main line between Madras andArcot started in 1853, which became operational in 1856.[5] In 1908,Madras Railway merged withSouthern Mahratta Railway to form theMadras and Southern Mahratta Railway.[6][7]
In 1944, all the railway companies operating inBritish India were taken over by the Government.[8] PostIndependence, various re-grouping proposals were studied as there were 42 different railway systems. In December 1950, the Central Advisory Committee for Railways approved the plan for Indian Railways into six zonal systems and the Southern Railway zone was created on 14 April 1951 by merging three state railways, namely, theMadras and Southern Mahratta Railway, theSouth Indian Railway Company, and theMysore State Railway.[9]
Southern Railway zone covers the states ofTamil Nadu,Kerala,Puducherry and a small portion ofAndhra Pradesh.[9]Andaman and Nicobar will form part of the zone once the proposed new railway line betweenPort Blair andDiglipur becomes operational.[10]
The Southern Railway is headed by the General Manager, assisted by an Additional General Manager. Southern Railway is headquartered in Chennai and is divided into six divisions namelyChennai,Tiruchirappalli,Madurai,Palakkad,Salem andThiruvananthapuram.[9]
| Name of Division | Established | Headquarters | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bezawada | 6-May-1956 | Vijayawada | Moved toSCR in 1966 andSCoR in 2019 |
| Madurai | 6-May-1956 | Madurai | |
| Tiruchirappalli | 6-May-1956 | Tiruchirappalli | |
| Madras | 1-August-1956 | Chennai | |
| Palakkad | 4-August-1956 | Palakkad | previously known as Olavacode. Formed by dissolving Podanur Railway Division. |
| Guntakal | 10-October-1956 | Guntakal | Moved toSCR in 1977 andSCoR in 2019 |
| Mysore | 31-October-1956 | Mysuru | Moved toSWR in 2003 |
| Hubli | 31-October-1956 | Hubli | Moved toSCR in 1966 andSWR in 2003 |
| Bangalore | 31-October-1971 | Bangalore | Moved toSWR in 2003 |
| Thiruvananthapuram | 2-October-1979 | Thiruvananthapuram | |
| Salem | 14-November-2001 | Salem |
The zone operates both passenger and freight trains. Various classes of passenger trains includingVande Bharat Express,Shatabdi Express andTejas Express are operated by Southern Railways.[11] Freight operations include container traffic from the ports,coal bound to the thermal power stations,oil andpetroleum products from refineries,cement and food grains. Most of the lines inside ports, thermal stations, manufacturing industries and owned by the respective companies and the zone provides a link connecting to its network along with the wagons and locomotives. The zone has a larger proportion of passenger traffic compared to freight.[12][13] There are about 727 stations on the Southern railway network.[14]
Southern Railway utilizes various classes ofelectric anddiesel locomotives to haul the trains.Steam locomotives are used by theNilgiri Mountain Railway.[15] The zone has threeelectric locomotive sheds and fourdiesel locomotive sheds.[16]
Southern Railway maintains wagon and locomotive workshops atPerambur, Chennai andPonmalai, Tiruchirapalli, engineering workshop atArakkonam, carriage maintenance workshops atBasin Bridge andEgmore and a signal and telecommunication workshop atPodanur,Coimbatore. It has threeEMU car sheds in Chennai atAvadi,Tambaram,Velachery and MEMU sheds atKollam[17] andPalakkad.[18] Southern Railway maintains trip sheds atBasin Bridge,Egmore,Tondiarpet andJolarpettai.[16] Southern Railway operated ticket printing presses atRoyapuram,Thiruvananthapuram andTiruchirappalli, but these have been phased out due todigitization.[19][20]
Southern Railways uses bothICF coaches andLHB coaches for its trains. ICF coaches manufactured by theIntegral Coach Factory inChennai have been used predominantly for over sixty years since the formation of the zone in 1951.[21] The ICF coaches are slowly being replaced by newerLHB rakes which provide better passenger comfort and safety.[22][23]
Following are the list of railway lines operational.[24][25]
Defunct railway lines includeKundala Valley Railways,[32][33]Kochin Tramways,[34]Madras Tramways,[35]Tiruchendur Light Railway,[36]Dharmapuri andKrishnagiri famine light railways,[37][38] Kodaikanal Light Railway.[39][40]
Southern Railways operates 41 sets ofexpress trains and 97 sets ofsuperfast trains. The superfast trains include:Vande Bharat Express (10),Shatabdi Express (2),Garib Rath Express (2),Duronto Express (1),Jan Shatabdi Express (4),Sampark Kranti Express (1),Anuvrat Express (1),Humsafar Express (1),Tejas Express (1),Uday Express (1),Antyodaya Express (2) andDouble Decker Express (1). Apart from this, it operates variousPassenger trains,DEMU,EMU services,Chennai Suburban and the Nilgiri Mountain Railway.[11]
There are about 727 stations on the Southern railway network including 486 non suburban stations, 74 suburban stations and 166 halt stations. The major and highest revenue earning stations areChennai Central,Chennai Egmore,Coimbatore Junction,Thiruvananthapuram Central,Tambaram,Ernakulam Junction, Tirunelveli Junction,Madurai Junction andTiruchirappalli .[14]
Chennai Suburban Railway is thecommuter rail system in the city ofChennai, operated by the Southern Railways. The system operates four lines with a track length of 1,174.21 km (729.62 mi), of which 509.71 km (316.72 mi) are dedicated dual tracks for EMUs.[41][42]
| Line | Start | End | Type | Length | Stations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Line | Chennai Central | Sullurpeta | Suburban | 82 km (51 mi) | 30 |
| South Line | Chennai Beach | Chengalpattu | Suburban | 60 km (37 mi) | 50 |
| West Line | Chennai Beach | Tiruttani | Suburban | 69 km (43 mi) | 57 |
| Chennai MRTS | Chennai Beach | Velachery | MRTS | 19 km (12 mi) | 25 |
Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)metre gauge railway inNilgiris district connectingMettupalayam andUdagamandalam. It was built during theBritish Raj in 1908 and is currently operated by the Southern Railways.[43][44] It is the onlyrack railway in India and operates on its own fleet ofsteam locomotives betweenCoonoor and Udhagamandalam.[45] In July 2005,UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as an extension to theWorld Heritage Site ofMountain Railways of India.[44]
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